Kanye West, a key player in Jay Z's Tidal stable, has left the company over a money dispute and Tidal has threatened to sue him.

Sources connected to Tidal say, Kanye has been unhappy with the company for a long time and has complained the company owes him more than $3 million.

Sources say about a month ago Kanye's lawyer sent a letter to Tidal, saying the company was in breach and the contract was terminated. Over the next 2 weeks lawyers for both sides tried to resolve the conflict but failed. TMZ.com says 2 weeks ago Kanye's lawyer sent a second letter declaring again the contract was over.

Kanye's decision to split from Tidal predates the release of Jay Z's album in which he trashes Kanye, and but Kanye had no advance knowledge of Jay's lyrics.

Kanye's beef with Tidal is because his Saint Pablo album resulted in 1 1/2 million new subscribers to Tidal, for which he was supposed to get a bonus but the company hasn't paid. Kanye also says Tidal reneged on reimbursing him for music videos.

Tidal's position is that Kanye didn't deliver the videos required by the contract. Kanye's response ... I'll deliver the videos when you pay me what I'm owed.

​Tidal sent a letter to Kanye, saying as far as the company was concerned it still had an exclusive contract with the rapper and if he tried to go to another streaming service they'd sue him. We're told Kanye's willing to walk away, but if Tidal sues him, he'll sue them right back.